2016 Welcome to Daylight Savings

Saturday – today is another Meetup – this time being held to welcome in Daylight Savings which starts tomorrow. I can never remember if you put the clock forward or back – all I know is that I do enjoy the extra hour of daylight when I get home from work.

The day is not too bad – fine skies but a bit on the windy side so hopefully the winds will die down before we meet at 4.30pm at Milson’s Point Railway Station. Unfortunately, by the time I get there it has turned cold and is still extremely windy. One of the plans for tonight’s little jaunt is a walk across The Bridge. Let’s hope that we do not get blown off the coathanger and into the harbour. As much as I love my harbour, it is not a place that I would want to land after a mega drop from the bridge!

Meeting with the ringleaders Helen and Paul, it is good to catch up with them and everyone who has put their hand up to join in and after everyone has had their name checked off and been given a lucky Meetup ticket for the raffle at the end of the night we set off.

It’s down the hill to the foreshores and area around Luna Park – I have not been here for ages, I couldn’t tell you when – and it will be good to see the big smiley face up close once again. It does bring back some happy memories of earlier days – before the Ghost Train tragedy – but I am getting ahead of myself.

It’s one of those – ‘yep this is my city and why the hell don’t I get out and see these areas more often’ moments. Even though we are getting whipped by the wind it is still a great place to photograph.

How many photos do I have of the harbour? That is one of the questions of the universe that will remain unanswered. Time to go around past the North Sydney Pool and stand in front of the Happy Face. There are quite a few people here – especially school kids so they must have been on a planned outing.

So many things to photograph on this busy harbour – the sun is on the way down so some interesting light.

The nuts’n’bolts help to keep the bridge upright. I would imagine that maintenance would be constant thing – by the time you looked at them all it would be time to start again!

Heading around towards Kirribilli; and no I do not plan on dropping in on the Turncoats – the gardens are very well kept along the water although there are some parts roped off – looks like a little bit of maintenance is going on to get ready for Summer.

On the point I discover a wonderful little resting place – I imagine it would be great for hot Summer Days; just sitting there and watching the activity on the Harbour.

Some good photographic opportunities arise – and as we still have some time left before sunset we make the most of it. Different lighting, especially with the sun behind the palms, but it doesn’t take much to make me just watch the boats going past.

Once everyone has taken enough photos it is time to move further around to Kirribilli. In all my time in Sydney, which is my whole life, I have not walked around here. Yep, slacko for sure. This attitude will have to change and I will definitely explore more areas that I have been too lazy to visit.

Walking around to our ‘this is where we will do sunset photography’ destination – I set up and get ready for the sunset-fest which there is no need for explanations, just enjoy.

Yes, I know ‘a bridge is a bridge is a bridge’ but it is MY bridge on MY harbour and I love it no matter what time of day.

Once the sun has disappeared from view it is now time to concentrate on night settings; maybe a panorama or two? What a pretty harbour!

With the sun all gone – I use my star filter to get a burst effect on the Bridge and Opera House lights.

Our group is taking thousands of photos – learning how to adjust for night settings etc but we must press on to our next adventure – walking across the Harbour Bridge. I have not done this at night since the Bridge’s 50th Anniversary and during that walk there was no really good opportunities for photography. There was such a large crowd and we had to keep moving – but I digress.

Back up the hill at Milson’s Point and up the Bridge stairs to the deck. The wind does not seem to be too bad which is good and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of people which is good.

I think I have lost touch with the group but I am sure we will ‘Meetup’ on the other side. As you can see by this photo it is taken at the beginning of my walk across the Coathanger. It is a pain having those railings as you try and position the camera – making sure that the strap is securely around my neck so that my precious Canon doesn’t take a swim!

The photo above right is the last photo I took with my 6 star filter – maybe you could call it a Memorial Star. The filter has always been a bit on the loose side and even though I was sooooo careful, as I brought the camera back in through the railing, the top of the filter caught, there was a little click and all of a sudden there was no filter.

I did not hear a splash or a cry of pain so it must have made a beautiful swan dive into the harbour where it now rests peacefully on the bottom. Bugger!

I make it safely to the other side where I catch up with the group and take some more photos – natch.

The night has turned out quite nice considering the wind that was whipping around earlier. We have one more stop to make so we walk along the Cahill Expressway to ‘the usual spot’ to take some photos of the Bridge, Opera House and Harbour (you can never have enough).

It is at this time that the raffle is drawn – and now I am the proud owner of a Joby sling strap. Yep, won again.

This concludes tonight’s festivities – some of the group are going back to Observatory Park with the ringleaders to do some light photography – I am heading my tired tootsies to the train and home. It has been a great day and you have to admit it is a great Harbour!